If you’re a political liberal — or just someone who has a sense of fair play — listening to two straight days of talk on WRKO-AM isn’t easy. With the governor’s election looming and Republican Kerry Healey trailing badly in the polls, RKO’s on-air talent has been doing everything it can for the Healey Campaign. Bald-faced distortions of Democrat Deval Patrick’s positions, ad hominem attacks on independent candidate Christy Mihos, fawning praise for Healey’s strategy, verbatim regurgitation of Healey’s talking points, unabashed race baiting — nothing is off limits. But by late last week, after the debut of Healey’s controversial garage-rape ad and the Faneuil Hall gubernatorial debate, even RKO eminence grise Howie Carr (who’s inadvertently helped Patrick by encouraging Mihos and ripping Healey for years) seemed ready to give up on Healey’s chances. We listened so you didn’t have to: here, in all its ugly glory, is the best and worst of 48 hours of RKO programming.

Thursday, October 19Scott Allen Miller, 6 am–9 am
Pro-Healey talking point: the great new Romney-Healey plan to tear down the tolls

The man known as “Scotto” has a tough job today: hammer both Patrick and Mihos for balking at a new proposal, by the Romney-controlled Mass Turnpike Authority board, to consider dismantling the Mass Pike tolls west of Weston. Why tricky? Because while Miller says Patrick is being too cautious about the proposal, he also says Mihos isn’t cautious enough, which means he’ll sound like Patrick when criticizing Mihos and vice versa.

Here’s how Miller pulls it off: while grousing about Patrick, he ignores Patrick’s actual remarks on the subject. (“If we can afford to maintain the quality and the safety of the roads, then we ought to do it,” Patrick said, but added that the new proposal should be studied further.) Instead, Miller constructs a fake dialogue with stock Patrick sound clips:

Miller: “I can understand Christy Mihos doesn’t want his one issue to be co-opted here. But for Mr. Deval Patrick — for Deval Patrick to act like he doesn’t know whether this is a good idea or not, even in principle — I can understand saying, ‘Look, I gotta do the math on this sort of thing,’ but for him just to say — ”
Patrick [fake quote]: “I gotta look at that.”

Miller: “No! I mean, do you like the idea, yes or no?”

Patrick [fake quote]: “I don’t have all the answers.”

Miller: “Okay, yeah, I know, I know, but if it would make sense financially, would you like to do it?”

Patrick [fake quote]: “I gotta look at that.”

Miller: [Exasperated sigh]

Later, Miller gets Mihos on the air. According to Mihos — a long-time advocate of toll elimination — the new plan isn’t credible because its legality hasn’t been established and because, instead of doing anything, it just calls for further study. If you’re going to remove the tolls, Mihos argues, you do all the necessary legal research and then you remove the tolls.

Debating pointers Well, folks, Fox 25 certainly set the bar with its debate broadcast Monday night, don’t you think? So with that in mind, here are some helpful hints for the bake-offs to come. Blue Mass Group's anti-Healey ad (YouTube) Christy Mihos's Big Dig TV ad

Christy’s choice The conventional wisdom is already fixed: if Christy Mihos — the convenience-store magnate and Big-Dig whistle blower who has pledged to run for governor — campaigns as an independent, he’ll be doing the Massachusetts Democratic Party a huge favor.

Daisy, Horton, ¡Peligro! The Massachusetts governor’s election is just six short months away, but three candidates — Republican lieutenant governor Kerry Healey, Democratic attorney general Tom Reilly, and independent businessman Christy Mihos — still haven’t rolled out any video ads.

Our big fat Greek wild card If Christy Mihos convinces Massachusetts to take him seriously, he’ll make this fall’s race for governor a lot more interesting.

Weenie Roast! A year ago, with scandals and embarrassments swirling around Massachusetts state politics, the Phoenix tossed some well-deserving pols on the flames in our first annual Memorial Day political roast. I'm pleased that I've been invited back.

Same Old Faces If you're wondering who the geniuses are behind the political campaigns in Massachusetts this year — the strategists, media firms, ad teams, and fundraisers — well, it's a lot of the same folks who have been behind Massachusetts campaigns for a long time. Candidates may win or lose, but consultants are forever.

The Italian job One basic premise unites the men and women who run for office and the men and women who cover their campaigns: when candidates talk, people care what they have to say.

Healey's hypocrisy The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court established a long time ago that while those accused of a crime in this state are not entitled to a perfect trial, they should receive at least a fair trial.

Deval and the lawmen For the past few weeks, Kerry Healey has pounded the Bay State with the message that Deval Patrick is dangerously weak on crime. Soft on crime? Arrest rates for violent crimes have plummeted under the Romney-Healey administration. By David S. Bernstein

Healey's Hail Mary In the Massachusetts governor’s race, it’s looking like Republican nominee and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey will need a doozy of an October surprise to catch Democratic nominee Deval Patrick.

Ready to rumble Last summer, the upcoming race that got most Bay State politicos salivating was the run for governor.

BULLY FOR BU! | March 12, 2010 After six years at the Phoenix , I recently got my first pre-emptive libel threat. It came, most unexpectedly, from an investigative reporter. And beyond the fact that this struck me as a blatant attempt at intimidation, it demonstrated how tricky journalism's new, collaboration-driven future could be.

STOP THE QUINN-SANITY! | March 03, 2010 The year is still young, but when the time comes to look back at 2010's media lowlights, the embarrassing demise of Sally Quinn's Washington Post column, "The Party," will almost certainly rank near the top of the list.

RIGHT CLICK | February 19, 2010 Back in February 2007, a few months after a political neophyte named Deval Patrick cruised to victory in the Massachusetts governor's race with help from a political blog named Blue Mass Group (BMG) — which whipped up pro-Patrick sentiment while aggressively rebutting the governor-to-be's critics — I sized up a recent conservative entry in the local blogosphere.

RANSOM NOTES | February 12, 2010 While reporting from Afghanistan two years ago, David Rohde became, for the second time in his career, an unwilling participant rather than an observer. On October 29, 1995, Rohde had been arrested by Bosnian Serbs. And then in November 2008, Rohde and two Afghan colleagues were en route to an interview with a Taliban commander when they were kidnapped.

POOR RECEPTION | February 08, 2010 The right loves to rant against the "liberal-media elite," but there's one key media sector where the conservative id reigns supreme: talk radio.